The Indiana Pacers were still smarting from a 20-point loss Wednesday to the Utah Jazz. Not only that, the Pacers remembered losing to the Hawks last week in Atlanta. No way would the Pacers take winning for granted Friday, Instead, they took their frustration out on the Hawks.

Building a 21-point lead in the second quarter, the Pacers cruised to a 112-87 victory and moved back to a season-high 10 games over .500 (38-28). You could almost see this one coming. The Hawks (20-46) are one of the worst teams in the NBA, and they are really awful on the road, where they have won just five games.

The Hawks are looking forward to the draft. The Pacers are fighting for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Messing around with the Hawks just did not fit into the Pacers' plans for the evening. Five Pacers were in double figures, led by Bojan Bogdanovic (21 points), and there were a few highlight dunks by Victor Oladipo (17 points, five rebounds, five assists). The home crowd was entertained, and the Pacers built some positive energy before a much tougher challenge on Sunday, when they visit the Boston Celtics.

Here are three takeaways from another feel-good night for the Pacers:

1. Darren Collison looked good in his return from knee surgery.

After missing the previous 11 games, Collison played 21 strong minutes off the bench (17 points, five assists) and showed little sign of rust. The Pacers missed Collison in many ways - his shooting, his decision-making, and his energy to name a few. Collison was having the best all-around season of his career before his injury, and it will be important for him to regain that form before the playoffs begin. Collison deserves credit for playing in pain before surgery, but he hopes to play pain-free the rest of the season. Pacers coach Nate McMillan plans to give Collison a little time before returning him to the starting lineup. If Collison keeps playing this way, McMillan will not wait much longer.

"You hope for what he did tonight," said McMillan. "You never know when a guy's been off for a period. He was playing good minutes, knocking down shots. Looked like he didn't miss a beat coming back. It was good to have him on the floor."

The 12 rebounds Turner grabbed were more impressive than his 17 points. Turner's mindset has clearly changed over the past few weeks, and his commitment to being more of a low-post threat has helped the Pacers' offense. Opponents are paying a price when they decide to defend Turner with a forward, rather than a center. He is getting more offensive rebounds, and he is taking more shots in the low post, rather than settling for jump shots. Turner has claimed he always had a low-post game, but having one and showing one are two different things. If Turner is to reach his full potential, his low-post game must continue to grow. But the past few weeks have been a step in the right direction.

3. The Pacers are healthy and deep heading into the home stretch.

With Glenn Robinson III and Collison returning to health, and the addition of forward Trevor Booker, the Pacers have never been deeper this season. They have a true 10-man rotation with Domantas Sabonis, Lance Stephenson, Robinson, Booker, and Joseph coming off the bench. Once Collison returns to being a starter, It will be a challenge for McMillan to find enough minutes for certain players each night. But it will also be a blessing that the Pacers' starters should have fresher legs to cope with the long season. Thaddeus Young, Oladipo, and Bojan Bogdanovic have all logged heavy minutes this season. But neither Oladipo nor Young played 30 minutes in this game, and the addition of Booker will allow McMilaln to give Young a little more rest. The Pacers are at their best when they play up-tempo, and they can look for more opportunities to run now that Collison is back.

"We're going into this stretch with a healthy team and we don't have to pace ourselves," said McMillan. "We have a lot of guys that can play and want to play."